1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to data processing and, in particular, to autonomic computing. Still more particularly, the present invention provides a method, apparatus, and program for assigning roles to computers using physical tokens.
2. Description of Related Art
When a computer or peripheral is deployed in a data center, it has traditionally been manually configured for a role, e.g. “database server for payroll department,” “printer for human resources,” or “daily tape backup.” Various passive means of device labeling are known to the art, and widely used by system administrators, such as affixing colored adhesive labels to computers, wrapping colored or marked flexible ties around cables, or putting signs atop computer cases. A typical data center contains many servers, peripherals, and other devices, some identical in appearance, providing a variety of different functions. Because system administrators often need to determine the function of a specific device quickly, it is their custom to label devices and cables as a reminder of their function, using marked stickers, colored ties, and other flags. This configuration process is often complex and error-prone, since it is entirely possible for someone to change the function of a device without changing the manual label, resulting in erroneous and sometimes dangerously confusing mislabeling.
Systems are known to the art in which a physical device or badge, such as a smart card or a magnetic card, is used to prove the identity or authorization of the human possessing the device or badge. In some known systems physical objects are used to set the security configuration of computing systems. U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/641,156 U.S. Pat. No. 7,069,585, to Chess et al., entitled “Physical Key Security Management Method and Apparatus for Information Systems,” filed Aug. 17, 2000, introduces a mechanism for security management using physical keys. While this does address one part of the overall issue of the complexity of system configuration, it addresses only security configuration, not role assignment.
Copy-protection devices known as “dongles” are physical objects which, when properly attached to a computer, provide that computer with the information or other means necessary to run certain software. They are used to prevent software piracy by making it difficult to run a program in any computer not equipped with the associated dongle. These systems are used only to deprive a computer of the ability to execute an unlicensed program, not to simplify system configuration or administration, nor to assign a role or priority to a device.
In some small computer system interface (SCSI) device enclosures known to the art, the position in the enclosure of a given SCSI device is used to set the priority in the SCSI chain of the given device. The priority of a device in a SCSI chain, however, is neither indicative of nor responsive to the role that the device plays in the larger computing system of which it is a part, or its relationship with other devices of different types.